Completed task indicator in Gantt

**excelhelp18** · 03-12-2009, 05:08 AM

Hi,

I have created a gantt chart in excel (Attached). I would like to highlight the area(days) with current date everytime someone opens the file. To be more precise, suppose if today date is 12 March, then area from 1st march till 12 march gets highlighted in green.

Is this can be done in gantt chart?

**Andy Pope** · 03-12-2009, 06:56 AM

You could add 2 series to the second axis.
Set the transparency to 80%.

If you want the shading behind the lines you could move your existing bars to the secondary axis. Or possible use use area chart instead of stacked bars for the additional series.

**excelhelp18** · 03-13-2009, 03:24 AM

Thanks for great help.

but, still unaware with the steps involved in preparation of this. Is it possible if you could list down the steps for us to understand this more clearly?

Thanks in advance

**Andy Pope** · 03-13-2009, 06:52 AM

Chart Tools > Design > Set Data.
Add - set Value to cell with start date in it
Add - set Value to cell with duration in it

Select 1st of newly added series
Set to secondary axis (Format dialog > Series Options > Plot on Axis > Secondary axis)
Select 2nd of newly added series
Set to secondary axis

Chart Tools > Design > Set Data.
Select 1st of newly added series.
Edit Horizontal (Category) Axis labels
={"1"}

Chart Tools > Layout > Axes > Secondary Vertical axis > Show Default

You should now have a stacked 2 section bar over your gantt bars.

To complete the formatting select the 1st bar and set fill to None.
Set the GapWidth to None
Format 2nd bar to be green and 80% transparent.
Delete the secondary horizontal axis. This will force the stacked bars to use the primary axis.
Format secondary vertical axis to have no tick labels or marks.